Trend Taster: colour drenching edition
In this week’s edition of the Trend Taster, we round up the snackable trends, stats and insights from around the world, including:
Cancelled Trip Marketplaces
Next-Gen Windows: Wood, Egg Whites, and Rice
Event tourism is on the rise
Explainer: colour drenching
The "Zombie Brand" Resurgence
Cancelled Trip Marketplaces
The sting of non-refundable holiday cancellations is giving way to smart solutions as platforms emerge that let travellers buy and sell pre-paid trips. Imagine picking up a week in Thailand for £1,200 that originally cost £4,700, like one savvy traveller did. These marketplaces offer genuine win-wins, helping those with unavoidable cancellations recoup some costs while spontaneous adventurers snag incredible deals, often 20% to 30% off.
Next-Gen Windows: Wood, Egg Whites, and Rice
Imagine windows and phone screens that are not only transparent and insulating but also safely compostable at the end of their life. Researchers are transforming balsa wood by removing its opaque elements and filling the voids with a natural, biodegradable mixture of egg whites and rice extract, inspired by 16th-century Indian building techniques. This innovative material, still semi-transparent with a slight brown tint, has shown remarkable thermal properties, keeping a mock-up birdhouse 5-6°C cooler than glass. It's a striking example of how looking to ancient wisdom and natural resources can unlock sustainable, high-performance materials for our future.
Event tourism is on the rise
Event tourism is reshaping travel priorities as 37% of Americans now spend more on trips built around live experiences than standard holidays. With the 2026 World Cup and Olympics approaching, data reveals travellers aren't just buying tickets but creating entire experiences around events. 85% dine locally, 73% shop, and 70% sightsee, turning single events into multi-day economic engines for host cities. The shift from "where should we go?" to "what's happening there?" signals a fundamental change in how people choose destinations.
Explainer: colour drenching
"Colour drenching" abandons neutral safety for head-to-toe single-colour statements, with devotees drowning themselves in electric blue or cherry red from accessories to shoes. This isn't subtle tonal matching but full chromatic commitment, mixing textures like satin and denim within one colour family to create depth without breaking the monochromatic spell. The movement signals fashion's rebellion against minimalist restraint, offering "main character energy" through pure colour confidence.
The "Zombie Brand" Resurgence
That hint of nostalgia you're catching in the supermarket aisles isn't just your imagination: a fascinating trend sees discontinued brands brought back to life. Think Slice soda, Jolt Cola, or Creme Savers making unexpected comebacks. Companies are tapping into built-in brand recognition, bypassing the hefty costs and high failure rates of new product development. While 90% of new food products reportedly fail within a year, two in three Americans would pay extra to see old favourites return.
